This morning I made a 2 hour drive south of my QTH, here in Olathe Kansas, to Neosho state fishing lake. It was a new park for me to activate in the Parks On The Air program.
When I arrived, there were several places for me to set up an antenna, my chair and radio. Unfortunately, as with all Kansas State fishing lakes, the soil is extremely rocky. I set up my 33 foot mast and guyed it in my normal fashion. I set up my radio, the mountain topper MTR3B and proceeded to call CQ on the 15m band.
I had a pile up rather quickly, and after the third contact, I heard a strange noise. I looked and my mast was laying on the ground. Of course, this means my antenna wire was on the ground as well. As I said, I was in the middle of a big pile up, and people were giving me decent signal reports, so I continued on.
After 11 quick contacts, I decided that I needed to fix the mast and get the antenna back up in the air. It was then that I noticed the top section of the mast had broken in the fall to the ground. Of course I was frustrated so I packed up everything and headed home. When I got home I looked at my contact map and was amazed at the spread of contacts that I had made with the wire on the ground and only using 5 watts.
Other than the mishap, it was a fun activation, and getting a new park made it all that much better. I guess it just goes to show that getting out there is better than setting at home.
73
